High Performance
What is High Performance in Water Heating?
In short, performance of a water heating system can be measured by the quantity of hot water that is delivered and the recovery time when the hot water in the storage tank is depleted.
The Department of Energy defines a measure called the Uniform First Hour Rating (UFHR), which measures the volume of hot water that a system can deliver in 1 hour at a temperature of 125°F and a 3GPM flow rate when starting with a tank full of hot water.
This rating is designed to measure the performance of a water heating system using a metric that is relevant to real-world use. The higher the UFHR, the higher the performance the system is able to deliver.
The SANCO₂ unit has the highest UFHR rating of any comparably sized Storage Electric or Heat Pump Water Heater.
- With the ECO-43SSAQB 43 Gallon Stainless Steel tank the SANCO₂ system can deliver 69 gallons in the first hour (UFHR=69 Gallons)
- With the ECO-83SSAQA 83 Gallon Stainless Steel tank the SANCO₂ system can deliver 121 gallons in the first hour (UFHR=121 Gallons)
- With the SAN-119GLBK 119 Gallon Glass Lined tank the SANCO₂ system can deliver 134 gallons in the first hour (UFHR=134 Gallons)
The High Performance of the SANCO₂ is primarily attributable to the following unique features:
- The natural refrigerant (CO₂) used by the SANCO₂ allows it to make and store hotter water than any other Heat Pump Water Heater. This means there is more energy stored in the tank which translates into more hot water delivered via the factory supplied anti-scald valve.
- The SANCO₂ heat pump compressor capacity is about 3 times the capacity of other Heat Pump Water Heaters. Higher capacity = more hot water!
Higher compressor capacity also impacts the tank recovery time. The SANCO₂ unit has the highest heat pump only recovery rate, with an ability to heat 20.5 gallons by 90°F for every hour that it is operating. 20.5 gallons of cold water at 60°F on intake can be heated to 150°F and stored in the tank every hour.
The Department of Energy estimates an average daily residential hot water use of 64 gallons:
https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/energy-cost-calculator-electric-and-gas-water-heaters
Using this as a baseline, the SANCO₂ unit would operate for between 2 and 3 hours to replace the water in the storage tank, depending on the temperature setting of the output water.
Given the outstanding efficiency of the unit, very little energy is consumed while running, often less than 3kw total.
Given this low energy use, the SANCO₂ is an ideal complement to rooftop PV solar panels, where the energy produced during sunshine hours can be used directly by the SANCO₂ to produce hot water.
One of the controls features of the SANCO₂ is a programmable time clock, ideal for solar applications or to integrate with Time of Use utility rate structures.